Garage construction



Nov. 21, 1933. H. 1.. sco'r'r 1,936,212

GARAGE CONSTRUCTION v Filed Oct. 23, 1950 s Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Hendrik L. 50022 AfToRNEYs Nov. 21, 1933. H. SCOTT 1 GARAGE CONSTRUCTION Filed 001:. 25, 1950 s Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Nov. 21, 1933. H L TT I 1,936,212

GARAGE CONSTRUCTION Filed Oct. 23, 1930 3 Sheet-Sheet 3 r v INVENTOR Hegel-it's L 5001! AT TORN EYS Patented Nov. 21, '1933 UNITED- STATES PATENT OFFICE Application October 23, 1930.

2 Claims.

The present invention pertains to a novel building construction of a type particularly adapted for parking automobiles and like vehicles.

The primary object of the present invention is to relieve the congestion within the business districts of cities by providing adequate and convenient means for receiving automobiles whereby it becomes unnecessary to park them upon the streets. By providing convenient means where the automobiles may be received without delay and returned to the owner again without the necessity of waiting while an attendant removes the vehicles in front of the automobile as is customarily necessary in conventional garages and parking lots the present invention discourages the parking of automobiles on the street for it is apparent that the chief reason for parking on the street is that the owner may drive the automobile away right when it is wanted. The second reason for not parking in the parking lots and garages is that of expense, it being necessary for such lot and garage owners to charge large rentals because the expense of maintaining such a lot or garage is great within the business districts and they can only accommodate a limited number of vehicles, the present invention making it possible to materially decrease the cost of parking due to the manner in which it accommodates a greater number of vehicles per square foot of ground surface than ordinary lots or garages, without increasing the overhead or number of attendants to handle the automobiles.

Another object of the present invention is to devise a building having floors spaced a distance apart to accommodate automobiles, said building extending approximately an equal distance above and below the street level or ground surface. This feature contributes to the quick delivery of the automobile to its owner due to the fact that the maximum amount of travel necessary to take an automobile from the highest or the lowest floor to the street level is just half the total number of floors of the building. Adjacent each of said floors are located self counterbalancing elevators having a plurality of platforms for receiving the automobiles at the street level and conveying them to the floor upon which they are to be parked, the platforms of the elevators, with the exception of the uppermost and lowermost, also being available for parking space. The uppermost and lowermost platforms of the elevators are kept vacant except at such times as they are being employed to raise or lower automobiles to or from certain floor levels.

Serial No. 490,694

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross sectional view taken 05 on the line 3--3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional side elevation of a modified form of the present invention, and

Fig. 5 is a cross sectional side elevation taken at right angles to Fig. 4.

Like characters of reference are employed throughout to designate corresponding parts.

The numeral 1 indicates the side walls of the building which extend approximately an equal distance above and below the ground surface or street level which is indicated by the numeral 2. Floor levels 3 are centrally located between the side walls and extend all the way across the building from the front wall 4 to the rear wall 5 and are formed of sufllcient length that two automobiles may be placed thereon end to end. At each end of the floors 3 are formed elevator shafts 6 and between these elevator shafts 6 and the side walls 1 are formed floors '7 of sufficient length to accommodate one automobile.

A series of elevator shafts extend from the front to the rear of the building as is clearly illustrated in Fig. 3 and each elevator is composed of a plurality of platforms 6' which form an elevator whose overall length is equal to approximately one-half the distance between the uppermost and lowermost floor of the building. Sheaves or pulleys 8 are mounted at the tops of the elevator shafts so that cables 9 may be trained thereover so that the elevators are connected together in pairs and in this manner counterbalance each other. Power cables 10 are centrally connected to the elevators and each set of two elevators are thereby driven by a single motor, the numeral pen to be vacant where they are driven off the elevators and they remain there until they are wanted. By connecting the elevators together in sets after the manner described above it becomes possible to lessen the cost of the operation of parking and delivering the automobiles for it no is apparent that when one elevator goes up the other goes down and therefore automobiles from both top and bottom floors may be delivered or parked at the same time this fact being also true of all the intervening floors. In the case of short time parkers the automobiles may be left upon the elevator until called for, it being only necessary that the top and bottom platform be kept vacant for shunting purposes, this fact not only adding to the convenience but also increasing the revenue by utilizing the space within the elevator shaft for parking the automobiles.

The modification shown in Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings illustrate the manner in which the present invention adapts itself to limited spaces making it possible to take a comparatively small lot in the heart of a business section where property is very expensive and increase the parking facilities thereof. In this form the side walls 20 are spaced apart a distance to accommodate two elevator shafts 21. The end walls 22 are spaced apart a distance to accommodate floors 23 adjacent each elevator shaft, there being approximately an equal number of floors disposed above and below the ground level.

Elevators 24 are mounted in each of the shafts 21 and are connected together by cables 25 which are trained over the pulleys 26 that are mounted at the tops of the shafts. A power cable 27, driven by the motor 28, being connected to each elevator so that when one goes up the other goes down.

The numeral 29 indicates the ground or street level from which automobiles may be driven through doors 30 onto the elevator platforms 31, each elevator having a plurality of platforms corresponding in number to half the number of floors 23, the manner in which the automobiles are parked being identical to that described in reference to the first described modification.

Although specific embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described it is to be understood that various changes may be made in the details of construction without departing from the spirit of the invention with- I in the scope of the appended claims, and such changes are contemplated.'

What I claim is:

1. An automobile parker formed with a pair of elevator shafts extending approximately an equal distance above and below the normal ground surface, equally spaced floors arranged on each side of said elevator shafts upon which automobiles may be parked, said floors being disposed above and below the ground surface, elevators mounted in said shafts and supported in a manner whereby they move simultaneously in opposite directions, and platforms formed on said elevators and equally spaced .a distance corresponding to the spacing of said floor levels, so that the platforms of one elevator register with all floors below the ground surface while the platforms on the other elevator register with all floors above the ground surface and vice versa. said platforms being adapted to receive automobiles to convey them to said floors, and for receiving automobiles for parking the same.

2. An automobile parker formed with a pair of elevator shafts extending approximately an equal distance above and below the normal ground surface, equally spaced floors arranged on each side of said elevator shafts, said floor being disposed above and below the normal ground surface and of a length suitable for receiving one automobile, elevators mounted in said shafts, platforms on said elevators opening adjacent the sides of said shafts that said floors are adjacent, said platforms being equally spaced a distance corresponding to the spacing of said floors and of a length suitable for receiving one automobile, and means for connecting said elevators so that they move simultaneously in opposite directions to cause the platforms of one elevator to register with all the floors above the ground surface while the platforms of the other elevator register with all the floors below the ground surface and vice versa.

HENARIE L. SCO'I'I. 

